After getting the address for the training facility assigned for the Shadow Squad, I leave my house the next day by 7:00 AM as it is on the other side of the town and it will take me an hour to travel as I am still driving below fifty kph.
I can drive faster if I want to as I am not scared about the bikes or the speed, but I prefer to go slow as it will also let me feel the air brushing on me gently which refreshes my mind, if I am not getting stuck in traffic.
I go to the ore refining factory that is near the northern defense wall. This is going to be my squad's training facility till the Hunter's Guild says otherwise. Once the one week resting period is over, we will start our training here, but I don't want to wait till then.
But I have no other option than to wait as the facility is guarded by the elite security of the Hunter's Guild and will not allow us till the remaining five days of the resting period ends. I just wanted to see how the training facility will be and have seen it, at least from the outside.
Now I can bring my squad when the resting period is over and we can start training together. Till that time comes, I will have to do something, but what?
I have no idea and can't find anything that will be interesting for me to do except for the battle exercise. It is the only thing I can think of to do at this time which will be helpful for me to increase my strength.
I don't intend to waste any time after what I have seen and felt in the nightmare. So I call Dawn and speak with her for a few minutes and she agrees to meet me near the eastern defense wall.
It will take me another thirty minutes to reach the place we agreed to meet, so I start immediately and go through the streets that I know will have less commotion at this time and reach the place before five minutes, but I see Dawn waiting for me at the restaurant near the wall.
"Thanks for coming at short notice." I tell her to which she replies with a smile "Anything for you, my love."
I try to calm myself and say "Please don't call me that, I kinda feel uncomfortable when you call me like that. Besides, like I said to you before, I want to do something and being in a relationship will only slow me down." To which she pouts and says "That's why you told me you will be with me always."
"Yes, I did tell you that, but as a friend, not as... something else." We had already come to terms about this and she started thinking that she can win me over if she spends as much time as she can with me. This is causing me more complications than the support and help I hoped I will get.
We talked for a while and finally decided to go for a hunt outside the wall to practice the 'Ice Wave'. I also called Sylas to join us in the hunting as he is eager to go out to hunt after the dungeon outbreak and has been calling me almost ten times a day asking me to go with him.
It took us about fifteen minutes to reach the eastern defense wall and I am a little surprised to see Snowfa also with him to join us. I am not sure how Mr. Cooper would have allowed her to come on a unsanctioned hunting, but I didn't ask her anything as it is her choice to join.
Snowfa waves at me with a bright smile and asks "You okay Alex? Are you sure you are ready for this?" To which Dawn answers before even I open my mouth "My boyfriend is stronger than you guys think" with a smile on her face.
I just shake my head in defeat as I know she will never change. "So, this is the gir..." Sylas says before stopping in mid-sentence seeing me shaking my head. Dawn looks at me without blinking, as if she is starring at me with anger. Feeling little awkward, I start doing window shopping in a nearby shop with no idea what those books displayed on the shelves are used for.
We are going out to the 'Death Valley' to hunt. We are not going to go deep as it is already 11:17 AM and we can't afford to be found outside the defense wall, not at this time. But, we have no other place to go to.
So we leave the town and go to the Death Valley by bypassing all the check posts and the security patrols that are around. It took us about an hour and a half to reach the mountain. We have decided only to hunt the monsters that are here from a permanent dungeon that appeared 11 years ago.
This dungeon is one of the few dungeons that have appeared near Havet. The good thing about the permanent dungeons are we do not have to fear about the outbreak, but the place will be filled with the monsters from the dungeon as they will come out and roam around the vicinity.
No one knows how to close these dungeons or will it ever close. The defense corp has to keep a vigilant security to keep the monsters from venturing into the nearby towns or villages. The entire Death Valley is protected by an electric fence that will keep the monsters inside.
There is not one but three dungeons inside the valley right now. The reason this valley is called Death Valley is because the permanent dungeon present inside the fence is an insect dungeon which has high number of insect species which will kill the humans entering in, if they are not careful.
This valley has seen the deaths of over five thousand humans in the last fice years alone, as there are people who are over confident or people who wants to prove something to someone or people entering without sufficient preparations enter this valley only to be killed by the insect monsters.